Always, Always Have A Plan

This is a picture of Saturday’s grocery shopping trip. My weekly budget is $140. But before you congratulate me for being so right-on-the-money, let me assure you that it should have been about half this much.

I needed very few groceries. I went through my freezer, pantry, and fridge leftovers. We went to Costco a week ago. We had plenty of food around the house and this was a perfect opportunity to be way, way under budget for the week and start replenishing our Costco account for the next big shopping trip.

But instead, I was in a hurry. I made a menu and a list, but didn’t put it in my grocery-bill-tracking app. I went to the store and picked up the things I needed…along with plenty of other things I didn’t.

Oh, it’s November 1st, look at all this Halloween candy on sale! I bet Rusty would love some Kit-Kats.

Maybe I’ll paint my nails tonight…I’ll just pick up a new color.

Oh, look! A sale! That’s a good price…a couple of these.

Kids, you want strawberries? Well, sure. Throw them in the cart.

Since I’ve got so much wiggle room in my budget this week I’ll just pick up this…and this…and this…

Normally I follow my grocery list to the letter and track every expense to the penny, knowing my grocery total before I even get to the checkout. But since I knew I wasn’t even close to hitting my maximum this week, I got lazy and sloppy and let myself throw whatever I wanted into the cart. Which is why even though I was right on budget I’m not celebrating.

But I did learn my lesson. Always have a plan, always have a list, and stick to it.

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4 thoughts on “Always, Always Have A Plan”

I wrote a whole response to this earlier, and then my WP app deleted it and I couldn’t get it back… it was funny, and I can’t recreate that magic. Oh well. Just know that this was a BIG help to me. I spend about $200/week on groceries (we do mostly organic) and it kills me. I needed to find you. I can’t even explain how much you’ve already helped me in the two months we’ve “known” each other!!! xoxo

Oh, I’m sure it was a total riot! 🙂 You’re way, way too nice to me. 🙂 I’m glad you’ve found things that help you – even if they’re just rants on my end. And don’t sweat the $200/wk. If that’s what it takes to feed your family the way you prefer to eat, then that’s what it takes. But if you’re trying to cut it, I’m sure you can! So fun getting to know you around the internet! 🙂